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Senegal: River Lifeline                                                                                                 May 3, 2004
                      About 3.5 million people live in the Senegal River basin. In 1972, the
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                      governments of Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali formed the OMVS an
                      organization to manage together the river’s use and to solve the problem             Full Story (PDF)
                                                                                                           English | French
                      of food and economic security for the people who live along it. The
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                      organization has evolved into one of the world’s leading examples of
                      several governments jointly managing a shared water resource. There                  Project
                      are benefits and drawbacks to this development challenge: along with                 The World Bank in Senegal
more crops under cultivation has also come more disease.
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                                    “Development is always going to have good and bad effects.”
                                                                                --Tamsir Ndiaye
Two dams on the Senegal River have transformed the lives of the 3.5 million people who live in its
basin. Hydroelectricity has brought reliable power to the cities, and people like farmer Banda Diang,
62, can now grow crops all year round. For others, the dams are a scourge. Ndiaga Diagne bemoans
the malarial mosquitoes and snails, which carry the intestinal parasite bilharzias, that have multiplied
since the dams were built. “That means disease for us.” Programs are under way to try to solve the
problems. Tamsir Ndiaye, of the Senegal River Development Association, says that there are always
pluses and minuses in development. “It’s a matter of making sure that the positive outweighs the
negative.”


                       “The dam has been very useful because we can grow all year round.”
                       --Banda Diang
                       For farmers like Banda Diang, two dams on the Senegal River have brought a degree of certainty to
                       his life. With the construction of the Diama Dam near the mouth of the Senegal River, salty water has
                       stopped seeping back up the river, and Diang now has reliable access to water. He can farm all year
                       round and rotate his crops. “I grow potatoes, onions, lettuce,” he says. “I can even grow fruit like
                       mangoes.” Diang is doing so well for himself that he has been able to purchase new plots. His goal is
                       to own a tractor.


                                                              “I have bilharzias because of the dam.”
                                                                                      --Ndiaga Diagne
For Ndiaga Diagne, 31, the dams that have brought prosperity to the Senegal River basin’s farmers
have brought disease and death to others. Snails that carry the intestinal parasite bilharzias have
flourished in the new freshwater environment. Thickets of marshy reeds have sprouted along the
river’s edge, and algae has deprived fish of oxygen and depleted their numbers. “We always drink
that water, we bathe in that water,” says Diagne. “That means disease for us. I have bilharzias
because of the dam.” New projects to tackle the environmental problems caused by the dam are
being piloted.


                       “You’d show up at your office, but there’d be no electricity so you can’t work.”
                       --Tamsir Ndiaye

                       The dams, which have brought increased prosperity to the Senegal River’s farmers, have also
                       increased the certainty of everyday life for residents in cities such as Dakar, Nouakchott, and
                       Bamako. Hydroelectric power, generated from the dams, has produced a stable and reliable power
                       supply. In the past, power outages used to be an almost-daily occurrence. “If you put some meat or
                       fish in the refrigerator, it could spoil. You’d show up at your office, but there’d be no electricity so you
                       can’t work. In the countryside, the water pumps would go out, so you can’t farm,” says Tamsir
                       Ndiaye, from the Senegal River Development Association.


Updated May, 2004